My E39 530i 231
Wife’s ML320 220
A4 workhorse 130

Daily company vehicle 2x 65 litre V16 4500hp

You’d probably want to avoid the coast path from Mumbles to be honest. It’s got steps and it’s usually quite busy with walkers.

The road from Mumbles – Langland – Caswell – Bishopston is quite hilly but once into Bishopston you can head down to Pwlldu bay and pick up the coast again briefly. Head right up the foot path for a cheeky 5 minutes and then there’s a bridleway climb up to Southgate. Can get pretty muddy though. Then across Pennard Golf course and down to Parkmill and on to the road for a few hundred yards and back on to a bridleway for a rocky climb up to Penmaen.
Follow the Gower way up over Cefn Bryn…Nice views from there. I usually follow the road again from Reynoldston before rejoining the Gower way from Llanddewi to Rhossili.

Oh and there’s tidy cake to be had in the Cafe at Rhossili

Wish I could. I could make a killing on commission

Line is closed for the first train up on Wednesday morning, so Neath is first stop unless you fancy a bus trip from Swansea to Neath.
Tried Newport? I used to parkway there a lot when I was based at Bristol. Quite a bit of on street parking around the station to avoid paying the NCP parking charges at the station.

I do Swansea – London by train daily…..but I drive the train 😉

Ive used cyclesent a couple of times. Always been reliable.

Next day express bicycle courier services.

This is what a DOO driver gets to see in his display. Now imagine monitoring 500+ passengers using 24 sets of doors through that display knowing that the ORR and Crown prosecution service are to pin manslaughter upon you if you get it wrong.

And if you aren’t lucky enough to have an on board display….you get this.

It’s far far better to have a guard physically stood on the platform to observe the door closing procedure.
DOO was brought into service at a time when the railways were in terminal decline. They weren’t running 12 car units with 1000+ people on them.

ASLEF are more than happy to discuss an agreement like Scotrail introduced whereby the driver opens the doors and the guards closes them. This could have been settled a long time ago..

Gower isn’t much cop for surf in the summer. It’s notoriously flat that time of year, picking up again in September

As above, try the career development loan route. No repayments until you completely your study. My other half is in a similar boat next September but has decided the Bank of Husband is the best and cheapest option.

Lots. I seem to remember the frame being £1150-ish and £2800+ for full builds. A bit pricey for aluminium?

Eating – Nothing. Im getting married on Sunday. I dont have time to eat. Apparently.

Drinking – Tomos Watkin’s -Blodwen’s Beer

Listening to – My Fiancee barking orders

We have a 6 year old and a baby girl of 8 months. Our 6 year old lad is autistic and cant talk.
On the whole, he’s a fab little boy. Well behaved, always eager to please. But no sense of danger whatsoever, cant explain anything to him, still not toilet trained. He runs away at every opportunity.
One of the things I find the hardest is picking him up from school. He comes out with a big smile, gives me a hug….and then I ask him if hes had a good day. He never replies. I ask him every time in the hope that’ll he’ll answer me one day. It breaks my heart.
We’ve spoken about having another but Im terrified of anything like this going wrong again.

The baby is however coming on leaps and bounds….looking forward to all the normal parent stuff that we’ve missed out on first time around like being excited for Christmas, birthdays etc.

Wow.How do you know this stuff ?

Just have a bit of an interest in the mechanics of them. They’re utterly
fascinating. They’re all quite similar in their operation

I drive these on a daily basis…but they’re nowhere near as complicated.

Ill have a stab at some of them…Cant see the numbers properly for some

I do have a vested interest. I drive their diesel counterparts for a living.

103 brake pipe -vaccuum
104 Ashpan
105 fire bar
107 firebrick arch
108 firebox
112 regulator
117? safety valve
123? firetubes
136 seat
137 driver
138 fireman
140 injector cocks
143 reverser
146 tender connection – vaccuum pipe
147 tender connection – water for injector
152 water pick up control wheel
154 probably sight glass for tender water
155 coal
156 water tank
157 pick up pipe
160 draw gear
161? oleo buffer
162? sole bar/frame
164 brake cylinder
167 brake rigging/rodding
169 draw gear
170 brake pipe for train
171 brake reservoir
172 water scoop
175 sander

Love the company and the job. Pays well, week off every fifth week, 6 weeks annual leave and I get to tear around at 125mph all day.
Employee benefits are nice too. Healthshield, loads of corporate discounts, cycle to work and a cycle to work-esque scheme for salary sacrifice home technology.

My question now is, do I need to change over my old railway pension from a different rail company (Virgin) to the new company (northern) as in, their contracted agreement?

After your first pay with the new company (and your first pension payment), RPMI should contact you to welcome you to the pension scheme. There will also be a form included for you to get a quote to transfer your old pension across.
I’ve recently joined GWR from Freightliner and got the welcome letter shortly after my first payday.

Not come across anything in Clyne itself recently but had a log across the bridleway from Clyne common to Mill Lane a few weeks back. Far too big for my feeble bunny hops too

Website is similar to a government pre election manifesto. Lots of nice things but none of them actually get delivered.
Shop is equally atrocious and all ticketed at eye watering RRP prices. Last thing I bought was an emergency SRAM power link that came up at £26 or so at the till and the guy thought that was an acceptable price for a chain link. Had to point out that was the cost for a multi pack of them.

Wish the CdF frameset was the same blue as the CdF 20. The black is so meh. Escapade is gonna win my money I guess….

2004 A4 1.9TDI. 191k now, owned since 100k-ish. Only ever had a starter motor in addition to service consumables and cambelts. Turns out the starter wasn’t even at fault.
Front wings are looking a bit ratty so I’ll treat it to some new ones shortly and had to replace a door that my good lady reversed into. Which was my fault. Obviously.
Can’t see me getting rid of it until it falls on its sword now. Still looks quite pretty too

M part ones and a Hope dropper guide seat clamp on my Scout. I know it has internal routing but I couldn’t justify a new Reverb just yet.
They stuck really well to the Biketart frame tape.

jeff – Member
They are grim aren’t they? (looking at one right now)

Awful. It looks like it belongs on an early 90s Raleigh Lizard

Using a Shimano CX70 with Superstar 38t NW on my Kona Jake. Works perfectly and looks so much better than the gopping Tiagra 4600 crank.

I’ve lived on the Gower for 3 years and my little lad’s birthday is late September. We’ve had outdoor birthday parties every year for him so far and it’s been beautiful every time. We’re getting married next month and are banking on it being sunny here. Go for it

32 days plus every fifth week off. Makes up for some bloody unsociable start times

I ran Stan’s Arch EX on Superstar Switch hubs on my Crush. They only £159 with one of the discount codes at the time and were faultless.

Just get the dark chocolate with Hazelnuts and the Sauv blanc and embrace your Middle Aged mum within!

This is some of my current collection, plus a few bottles that are too tall for the book case.
The Professor Cornellius Ampleforths Bathtub gin is quite something. They do a 57% Navy strength version too!

Get yourself along to one of these….

https://www.ginfestival.com/

Absolutely fantastic nights, there’ll be over 100 Gins to try and they will recommend a garnish to go with each one. #limeisdead.

I’m a big fan of Brockmans gin. It’s got a Parma violet-esque after taste to it. It’s so good you can easily drinks it in the rocks.

Glad you checked properly. I was just about to send my single knee pad back until I read this and found the second one

That’s gotta be a cock up surely. Who sells pads singularly? I’ve got some 661 pads and they’re left/right specific… It not like you can order either side on there.

Have ‘they’ received a memo or something. I had the very same conversation on Monday. The words vagrant and armpits featured a number of times. Although I’m quite excited about being given authority to raid the wedding fund to replenish my wardrobe.

My 8 year old working cocker has been on Burns from 16weeks. He loves it and it’s easy to pick up afterwards 😉
We get on subscription from Amazon, with an automatic delivery every two months.

Semi-dried tomatoes for me. With mozzarella.

A really annoying feature is that is repeatedly becomes your default payment option, so if you’re buying something in hurry, it’s easy to shove it on your credit account if your aren’t aware.
I’ve got an Indian take away for four that I’ve now spread over twelve months after a hasty Just-Eat purchase.

Mine turned up yesterday. Built today but not yet tested in anger. Will report back after a shakedown tomorrow.

Aren’t 29er wheels the same size as 700c road wheels?

We just moved house. Over the Easter holidays, with a 10 week old and 5yr old with autism. Whilst working night shifts.
I can now tackle anything. Apart from all that again.

I’ve had a set of custom neon green Stan’s Arch rim decals to match my Scout made by Slik and they’re absolutely perfect.
All discussed via email and they were here two days later.

Well things have taken a crazy batshit turn at our place. The company wanted rid of 19 men at my location. Then they went and won quite a large contract that no one really expected. Hooray for everyone you would think. Not so, we now have the bonkers situation where the 19 may still lose their jobs….because the guys who the contract was taken from may have to be TUPE’d across. Despite them being based 60 odd miles away. WTF?